Potential Tropical Storm Gabrielle Threatens Caribbean Travel Next Week

Following a relatively quiet August for the Atlantic hurricane season, another storm may be nearing the Caribbean by the end of next week.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is monitoring a “broad area of low pressure” over the eastern tropical Atlantic, the agency said Friday. The system, which is producing a disorganized area of showers and storms, is likely to form into a tropical depression this weekend and strengthen as it continues its westward track toward the Caribbean over the next week.

For now, the NHC is forecasting the storm, which would be named Tropical Storm Gabrielle should it form, to be near the Lesser Antilles by the middle to latter part of next week. The agency is not forecasting much more than that, including the potential storm’s ultimate strength and size or its possible path toward Florida and the U.S. East Coast.

Forecasters at AccuWeather have issued their own prediction, predicting Gabrielle could strengthen into a hurricane and hit the northeast Caribbean by the middle of next week, passing near or over the Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico. AccuWeather’s forecast as of Friday is for the storm to produce wind gusts of up to 130 mph, which would make it a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

There is still much to be determined about the storm as it passes over warmer-than-usual water in the Atlantic. Should that forecast prove correct, travel in the area, including cruise ship itineraries, will almost certainly be affected.

“We do not anticipate much dry air, dust or disruptive wind shear along the forecasted path of this storm through the Atlantic next week,” Alex DaSilva, a lead hurricane expert for AccuWeather, said. “The strength of the Bermuda high and steering winds will eventually determine if this tropical rainstorm will continue tracking west toward the U.S. East Coast, or if it will turn to the north and curve out into the open Atlantic.”

While forecasts called for a worse-than-usual hurricane season for the Atlantic in 2025, it has not been as bad for the travel industry as years past. The season typically runs through October, so that could change quickly.

A separate, major storm is moving through the Central Pacific. Hurricane Kiko is expected to hit the Hawaiian Islands in the early to middle part of next week. The NHC said it is still “too soon to determine the exact location or magnitude” of the storm when it makes landfall but is alerting everyone in Hawaii to stay up to date on the storm’s progress.